I planted asparagus this year, and I have used a water permeable weed barrier to control weeds. But this does not seem like a good idea going forward, as I don't want to discourage the spread of the asparagus to other areas of the bed.

My father used to sprinkle salt water on his asparagus, but that is not considered a good idea by many experts. The reasons are listed here

Hoeing seems like it would disturb the roots and possibly damage the crowns.

What methods or techniques are best for controlling weeds in an asparagus bed?

2 Answers
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I've found straw to work well for most plants in my garden. I haven't used it for asparagus but I have used it on garlic & shallots, neither of which had issue pushing through in the spring. The only issue I've had, which was even worse with leaves, is by spring the mulch sometimes becomes too compressed and needs to be raked to loosen it up or just re-applied.

You're right about the water permeable weed material not being a great idea in an asparagus bed, for the reason you mention. Assuming that you prepared the bed thoroughly before planting by not only digging it over, but rigorously removing any roots from perennial or pernicious weeds, part of the ongoing, rather labour intensive management of asparagus is regular weeding by hand. Old fashioned, tiresome, but the most effective and least damaging, I'm afraid.